The measurements of 4x8, are the length and width of your garden? If that is the case, know that some of those plants get very large. Eggplant, tomato and peppers grow fairly large and can easily consume all of your space. You will want to choose compact varieties or do some selective pruning to keep them contained. Keep them staked or caged to contain their encroachment on your other plants. Carrots and spinach require little space to grow well as long as you harvest regularly. Grow your peas and cukes upright on a trellis or use your chicken wire as a trellis and allow/train these plants to grow upright. You can use stretch tie or twine to aid in training them upward. Plant your tomatoes and peppers where there is abundant (minimum 6 hot hours) of sun. Thinning is the removal of the weaker seedlings that have germinated too close together. Choose the stronger seedling to remain behind. If they all appear equal in growth just gently remove all but one as per the spacing required for the chosen plant. Hardening off means slowly exposing them to fluctuating temperature and wind after being protected and controlled indoors. IOW you gradually expose them to outside conditions when the weather is favorable. Personally, I would not use peat cells for seed starting. If you already have, once the seedlings emerge and begin to set leaves, there will be little to no nutrients for your plants. I would, at that point, transplant them into a seed soil mix in a small plastic pot. Watch your space and don't over plant. Stressed plants are more likely to be killed by disease. The soil in your garden should be a mix of topsoil and compost ( I also mix in a bit of "crappy native soil" because it contains vital nutrients and minerals). Plant in the topsoil and "mulch" with aged compost. Be sure there is adequate drainage with your weed fabric underneath. Many landscape fabrics do not allow sufficient drainage (even though it says so on the package). You don't want to turn your garden into a pond. Search around the web for some small veggie garden tip sites. Your space is your largest concern for the amount of plants you are placing in your garden. Specifically, watch your tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. Don't be frustrated, you will learn more from your mistakes than your success. Gardening is fun and productive if you are patient and understand why things failed or succeeded. You will learn more and more as you continue. Good luck!! :) Robbie

Hi, Angela- We're in very different zones, so I can't say about when your stuff should bloom and set fruit. But when your squash and tomatoes really take off, I'm afraid the crowding will hamper their production. Here is a link to some recommended plant spacing for square foot gardens. Keep in mind that some people still consider that too close. My recommendation would be to remove the squash. You can try planting it somewhere else, but I've never transplanted them after they've been in the garden for awhile, so I don't know if that would work. They will get really big, as you see in Kristi's pictures. I can buy local squash cheap at the farmer's market, but there's nothing like a tomato out of the garden. That's what I would base my decision on. If the peppers are getting crowded out, you could try those in pots--I grow a lot of peppers that way. Don't feel bad. In my first garden, I had to surgically remove cucumbers that were strangling my tomato plants. By the way, squash blossoms are often very low to the ground. That's not a problem, you might just want to keep an eye out for little ground-level nibblers. And there's no need to worry about getting the flowers wet when you water. Here is a link that might be useful: Square foot garden spacing

My bamboo plants are there for screening, and so I can hear the wind blow through them (*smile*). Thinning is a good thing, but like anything else, you can do too much of a good thing. What I've read is to do your first thinning after 2 or 3 years. Cut out the old, thin culms, and shape the clump to your needs. But don't cut it before it is at least somewhat established, and do it in phases if you need to do a lot. -Roger

Thanks for the encouragement "no-clue" (sorry I don't know your name)! Funny you mentioned the glistening - only 1 of the cuttings I ordered is doing this and I was wondering if that was ok. It does seem healthy, so that's good. One of my cuttings seemed as though it was rotting last week. It got full of fluid under the outer skin and felt a bit soft to me. I figured what do I have to lose, so I pierced the skin to allow it to dry out. The next day the stem was all firm again, and leaves seem to be starting to grow. There is a spot on the stem where the skin dried back and underneath is not covered - does anyone know if this will be ok in the long run, or if I should cover that area with anything? Fingers crossed that they all do well, and that yours, No-clue starts growing soon.